


A Handful of Starlight

by sister_wolf



Category: Star Trek (2009), Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Backstory, Crossover, Gen, Legends, Podfic Available, Stargazing, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-09
Updated: 2010-09-09
Packaged: 2017-10-12 03:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/120315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sister_wolf/pseuds/sister_wolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of myths, lost cultures, and faith.  (Or: Gaila and Ronon go stargazing.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Handful of Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> reena_jenkins has recorded a podfic for this story! The AO3 link is at the end of the fic.

The evening breeze was cool and refreshing after the heat of the day, creating a delicious contrast with the sun-warmed metal on which they reclined.

Gaila lifted her hand to the sky, framing a thick clump of stars within the span of her spread fingers. "In the oldest stories of my people, the Goddess created the night sky by casting a handful of diamonds and pearls across an endless sea."

Ronon rolled his head to the side to give her a skeptical eyebrow. "Wouldn't they have sunk if she was throwing them into the ocean?"

"It's a legend -- it doesn't have to make sense," Gaila laughed.

Ronon shrugged, as much as he could with his crossed arms pillowing his head. "Just basic physics."

She rolled onto her side, leaning over him with her chin resting on her hand. "Didn't your people have legends about the night sky?"

"The priests told stories, I think," Ronon said, sounding dubious. "I never paid that much attention. It all seemed to be about how you'd go to hell if you ever did anything fun, so I wasn't too interested in it."

"So you never believed?"

"Maybe I did when I was a kid -- just in a basic way, the way you do when you don't think too much about it -- but after the Wraith..." He fell silent. Gaila lay beside him quietly. She wouldn't ever push; she knew as well as anyone what horrors could lie in wait within one's memories.

After a few minutes, he sighed heavily and turned to face her. The look in his eyes was as bleak as a frozen ocean. "After the Wraith killed my people, I stopped believing in much of anything."

Gaila nodded, accepting. She rested a hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat, so much faster than an Orion's.

"So do you?" he asked. "Believe that story about your Goddess?"

"Kind of? More as a metaphor than anything else. I don't really believe that the Goddess _literally_ scattered diamonds and pearls across the night sky... but it's a beautiful story."

Ronon reached out to play with the springy curls of her hair, gently tugging and letting a curl go. "Tell me."

Gaila smiled. Reaching her hand up to frame the night sky again, she started, "The Goddess was loved by twin brothers, the suns in the daytime sky. They desired her above all others and gave her gifts of diamonds and pearls..."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] A Handful of Starlight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/971574) by [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins), [sister_wolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sister_wolf/pseuds/sister_wolf)




End file.
